In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
But when it set, he said: “I love not those that set.”
It made me weep, the verse I love not those that set, which was uttered by Abraham (Upon whom be peace), for it announces the universe’s passing and death.
My heart’s eyes wept at it, pouring out bitter tears. Each tear‑drop was sorely sad as the eyes of my heart wept. The verse causes others to weep, and as though weeps itself. The following lines in Persian are my tear-drops,
a sort of commentary of some words present within the divine word of Allah the Most High’s wise one, the Prophet Messenger (UWP).
A beloved who by setting is lost to view is not beautiful, for those doomed to decline cannot be truly beautiful. They may not be loved with the heart, for it is created for eternal love and is the mirror of the Eternally Besought One; they should not be loved with it.
A desired one who is doomed to be lost on setting; such a one is not worthy of the heart’s attachment, the mind’s preoccupation. He should not be the object of desire. He is not worthy of being regretted with the sorrow and grief that follows. Why should the heart worship such a one and be bound to him?
One sought who is lost in ephemerality; I don’t want such a one. For I am ephemeral, I don’t want one who is thus. What should I do?
One worshipped who is buried in death; I shan’t call him, I shan’t seek refuge with him. I am infinitely needy and impotent; anyone powerless can provide no cure for my boundless ills. He can spread no salve on my eternal wounds. How can one who cannot save himself from death be an object of worship?
Indeed, being obsessed with externals, the human reason cries out despairingly at seeing the deaths of the things it worships in the universe, and the spirit, which seeks for an eternal beloved, utters the cry: I love not those that set.
I don’t want separation, I don’t desire separation, I can’t abide separation.
Meetings followed immediately by separation are not worth sorrow and grief, they are not worthy of being longed for. For just as the passing of pleasure is pain, imagining the passing of pleasure is pain. The works of all the metaphorical lovers, that is, the works of poetry on love, are all cries at the pain arising from imagining such passing. If you were to constrain the spirit of all those works of poetry, these grievous cries would flow from each.
It is due to the pain and tribulations of meetings stained with transitoriness, those sorrowful, metaphorical loves, that my heart weeps and cries through the weeping of, I love not those that set.
If you want permanence in this transitory world, it proceeds from transitoriness. Find transience with regard to your evil‑commanding soul that you may be enduring.
Divest yourself of bad morals, the basis of worship of this world. Be transitory! Sacrifice your goods and property in the way of the True Beloved. See the ends of beings, pointing to non‑existence, for the way leading to permanence in this world starts from transitoriness.
The human mind plunges into causes, so is bewildered at the upheavals of the passing world, and laments despairingly. While the conscience desires true existence, so severs the tie with metaphorical beloveds and transient beings by crying like Abraham, I love not those that set, it binds itself to the Truly Existent One, the Eternal Beloved.
O my ignorant soul! Know that the world and its beings are surely ephemeral, but in each ephemeral thing you may find two ways leading to permanence, and may see two flashes, two mysteries, of the manifestations of the Undying Beloved’s beauty. But only if renounce yourself and those ephemeral things.
Yes, within the bounty the bestowal is to be seen and the Most Merciful’s favour perceived. Passing from bounty to bestowal, you will find the Bestower. Also, like a missive, each work of the Eternally Besought One makes known the All‑Glorious Maker’s names. If you pass from the decoration to the meaning, by way of His names you will find the One signified. Since you can find the kernel, the essence, of these ephemeral beings, obtain it. Then without pity you can throw away their meaningless shells and externals onto the flood of ephemerality.
There is no work among beings that is not a meaningful embodied word and does not make read many of the Glorious Maker’s names. Since beings are words, words of power, read their meanings and store them in your heart. Cast meaningless words onto the winds of transience fearlessly. Don’t needlessly busy yourself with looking behind them.
The worldly mind worships externals, its chains of thought and its capital consisting of objective knowledge, but these lead to nothingness and non‑existence, so it cries out despairingly in its bewilderment and frustration. It seeks a true path leading to reality. The spirit, however, has withdrawn from “those that set” and the ephemeral, and the heart has renounced its metaphorical beloveds and the conscience turned its face from transitory beings. So, like Abraham, my wretched soul, you too seek the assistance of I love not those that set, and be saved.
How well Mawlana Jami expressed it! For his self was kneaded with love and intoxicated with the cup of ardour: Yakī khwāh(1) Yakī khwān(2) Yakī jū(3) Yakī bīn(4) Yakī dān(5) Yakī gū(6) That is,
1. Want only One; the rest are not worth wanting.
2. Call One; the others will not come to your assistance.
3. Seek One; the rest are not worth it.
4. See One; the others are not always to be seen; they hide themselves behind the veil of ephemerality.
5. Know One; knowledge other than that which assists knowledge of Him is without benefit.
6. Say One; words not concerning Him may be considered meaningless.
Yes, Jami, you spoke the truth absolutely. He alone is the True Beloved, the True Sought One, the True Desired One, the True Object of Worship.
For, in a mighty circle for the mentioning of the divine names, this world together with all its beings and their different tongues and various songs declares, There is no god but Allah; together they testify to divine unity. Binding the wound caused by I love not those that set, they point to an Undying Beloved in place of all the metaphorical beloveds, attachment to whom has been severed.